Fresh out of mead? No matter – come March, you’ll have a whole new libation to sip while playing your favorite Drinking Game of Thrones.

HBO announced today that it’s partnering with New York’s Brewery Ommegang to create a series of beers “that directly tie into themes, characters and nuances…of the medieval-like fantasy realm of Westeros and surrounding kingdoms,” according to a press release. Iron Throne Blonde Ale, the first beer in the series – beeries? – should be on shelves in time for Game of Thrones’s third season premiere on March 31. 750ml bottles will sell for the suggested retail price of one gold dragon $8.50, a pittance for any Lannister worth his salt.

This news shouldn’t come as a surprise to fans of either George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire books or the HBO series it inspired.

Martin’s novels are filled with elaborate descriptions of banquets, complete with plenty of flagons of mulled wine and beer and pale green Volantine liquor. Food and drink have also been central to HBO’s Game of Thrones marketing since before the series premiered in 2011 – remember the GOT food trucks that roamed New York and LA last year, or the official GOT cookbook published this past May? HBO also has a history of selling drinks tied to its most popular series – see Tru Blood, a real blood orange-flavored drink that’s the next best thing to human blood, as proof.

The initial Game of Thrones ale will be followed by three more themed beers – one in the fall of 2013, and two more that will debut alongside subsequent seasons of the show. If they’re successful, maybe the brews will pave the way for all sorts of GOT-themed goodies. Lip-smacking honey-spiced locusts? Mass-produced pies filled with live doves? Cersei’s special wine, which may or may not cause insatiable brother-lust? It is known: The sky’s the limit. And if nothing else, at least we’ll have plenty of ways to drown our sorrows as we wait (and wait, and wait) for The Winds of Winter.